Clinical Trials for Mesothelioma

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Lunes, Hulyo 25, 2011

The clinical trials in general constitute a fascinating part of the medical field. The trials are run with the help of volunteers (sometimes healthy ones, sometimes people who carry a respective disease), and they are meant to test the safety and effectiveness of a certain drug in treating a condition. There are several mesothelioma clinical trials available right now, and patients are welcome to enroll and make a difference in the lives of all those who carry the disease.

Becoming a trial volunteer is exactly like taking part in a humanitarian event. You do not expose yourself to any major health risks, since everything is closely monitored. Also, it is important to note that there are certain guidelines that must be respected if you want to take part in such a trial. For instance, in order to enroll for the “Cisplatin for Chemonaive Patients with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma” study, you must:

Have a proven diagnosis of pleural Mesothelioma

On the Karnofsky scale, you must have a performance of 70 or higher. The Karnofsky scale basically reflects the general well-being status of a cancer patient. The scale runs from 0 to 100%, where 0 means death, 10% means a rapidly progressing fatal disease, 70% means able to care for self but not able to perform any work, and the scale goes up like this progressively reflecting a more and more positive status of a patient.

Further clinical trials for mesothelioma include the “ALIMTA plus Gemcitabine as Front-line chemotherapy”, “ Open-label study of ALIMTA and Cisplatin”, or “ Surgery and Photodynamic Therapy in Treating Patients with Mesothelioma”.